Category search results
Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
Written probably in 1523, and one of four hymns by Luther published in Etlich christlich lider Lobgesang un[d] Psalm (the 'Achtliederbuch', Nuremberg/ Wittenberg, 1524). This is a free version of Psalm 12, entitled 'Salvum me fac' ('Help, Lord'). It had six 7-line stanzas. A further stanza, 'Eer [Ehr] sey Gott vatter alle zeyt', was added in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), but it is not thought to be by Luther. The...
Adam lay y-bounden. English, ca. 1400, author unknown.
This carol is found in the British Library Sloane MS 2593. It is thought to date from ca. 1400. It was printed in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), with a tune by Peter Warlock (1894-1930). It has since become widely known through its inclusion in the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols* at King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, when it normally follows the First Lesson, telling of the judgement of God on Adam and Eve and the serpent....
Ah Jesu Christ, my Lord most dear. Heinrich von Laufenburg* (ca. 1390- ca. 1460), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
This tender German hymn is from a Strasbourg MS, dated 1429 in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, II. p. 534 (modern books date it 1430).
Winkworth translated the five 6-line stanzas, as follows:
Ah Jesu Christ, my Lord most dear, As Thou wast once an infant here,So give this little child, I pray,Thy grace and blessing day by day: Ah Jesu, Lord Divine, ...
ALBRECHT, Count (Markgraf) of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke of Prussia. b. Ansbach, 17 May 1490; d. Tapiau (now Gvardeysk, Russia), 20 March 1568. Born into a branch of the Hohenzollern family, he was appointed Grand Master ('Hofmeister') of the Teutonic Knights ('Deutschen Ordens') in 1511, in the hope that he would restore the Order from Polish domination. He led the Prussian forces against Poland in an unsuccessful war of 1519-1521, followed by a four-year truce, at the end of which, at the...
All people that on earth do dwell. Probably by William Kethe* (d. 1594).
This paraphrase of the 100th psalm was printed in two collections of psalms by the English Protestant exiles in Geneva, both entitled Four Score and Seven Psalmes of David in English Mitre [sic] (with slight differences in the title page) and published in 1561. It also appeared in John Day*'s Psalter of 1560-61. It was not included in The Whole Booke of Psalmes, the 'Old Version'* of 1562, but appeared as one of two...
Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr. Nikolaus Decius* (ca. 1490-1541).
The first three stanzas were probably written in 1522-23, when Decius was a schoolmaster in Braunschweig. It was published in Joachim Slüter's Eyn gantz schone unde seer nutte gesangk boek (Rostock, 1525), with a fourth stanza by Slüter. It was in Low German (Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. pp. 565-6, beginning:
Aleyne Godt yn der hoege sy eere und danck vor syne gnade...
This is the first of two such texts, the...
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. Konrad Huber* (1507-1577).
This is found with other hymns by Huber in Ein New Auserlesen Gesangbüchlein (Strasbourg, 1545); but it was attributed by Wackernagel to Johannes Schnesing and printed at Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 176 (one of several versions, pp. 174-6). Wackernagel notes that this version of the text, entitled 'Ein Bettlied zu Christo unserem einigen Heiland' ('a prayer-hymn to Christ our only Saviour'), was credited to Huber (or 'C. Humbert') in...
BLARER (or Blaurer), Ambrosius. b. Konstanz, Bodensee, 4 April 1492; d. Winterthur, 6 December 1564. He was educated from the age of 11, after the death of his father, at the Benediktinerkloster at Alpirsbach in the Black Forest. He entered the University of Tübingen (BA 1511, MA 1512), and after a further period of study, he returned to the Benedictine monastery. He was elected prior, but left in 1522, having been introduced to the writings of Martin Luther* by his [Blarer's] brother Thomas....
LOBWASSER, Ambrosius. b. Schneeberg, Saxony, 4 April 1515; d. Königsberg, 27 November 1585. He studied at Leipzig, and became a tutor at the university there. He received a doctorate from the University of Bologna; he was appointed Professor of Law at Königsberg in 1563, remaining in post until 1580.
Lobwasser is chiefly known for his translation into German of the metrical psalms of Théodore de Bèze* and Clément Marot*, Der Psalter dess Königlichen Propheten Davids, In deutsche Reymen...
Aus tiefer Not laßt uns zu Gott. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480-1534). Printed in Ein new Geseng buchlen (Jungbunzlau, Bohemia, 1531), in nine 7-line verses. It was the first of three hymns under the heading 'Geseng fur die gefallenen von der angenommenen gnad' ('A hymn for the fallen on the grace of adoption', Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 328-9). Although it begins in a similar manner to Luther*'s paraphrase of Psalm 130, this is not a psalm paraphrase (see Liederkunde zum EG, Volume...
Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
Written in 1523/24, and probably first printed in a broadsheet and sold in the streets. It was one of four hymns by Luther printed in Etlich christlich lider Lobgesang un[d] Psalm (the 'Achtliederbuch', Wittenberg, 1524). It had four verses in that printing, and also in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524). A five-verse text, replacing the original verse 2 with two verses, 2 and 3, appeared in Geystliche gesangk...
GESIUS, Bartholomäus. b. Müncheberg, near Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, 1551/52; d. Frankfurt an der Oder, 1613. His name is spelt in several ways (see MGG entry below). He studied theology at Frankfurt-am-Main from 1575. He broke his studies by working as a cantor in Müncheberg (documentary evidence survives from 1582), and then returned to university, where his presence is recorded in 1585. He became a domestic tutor to a nobleman in Muskau and Sprottau before 1588. He moved to be cantor at the...
RINGWALDT, Bartholomäus. b. Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, ca. 1530/1532; d. Langenfeld, 9 May 1599. The details of his early life are unknown until his matriculation as a student of theology at Frankfurt/Oder in 1543. He became a pastor in 1556, and in 1559 he was a pastor at Pieske (Polish Pieski), before becoming pastor at Langenfeld (or Langfeld), Neumark (near Sonnenburg, Brandenburg). He was a strong Lutheran presence at a time of division and disintegration in church and state, and a dependable...
BIANCO da Siena. b. date unknown; d. 1434. Little is known of his life. He was born at Anciolina, a small village north-west of Arezzo, Tuscany. In 1367 he joined an Order of Lay Brothers, the Jesuates, established by the Blessed John Colombinus of Siena (the Order was abolished by Pope Clement IX in 1668). He is said to have lived in Venice for some years, and to have died there.
His hymns remained in manuscript until they were published by Telesforo Bini, entitled Laudi Spirituali del Bianco...
Caelestis formam gloriae. Latin, 15th Century, author unknown.
According to Frere (1909, p. 353) this hymn was 'one of those anciently sung at Salisbury and elsewhere for the Transfiguration.' He then goes on to say that 'when that festival was brought into common use at the end of the XVth century many new hymns were written for it, and this among the number.' JJ gives its provenance as being found in a Sarum Breviary (Venice, 1495). It is of unknown authorship. It began:
Caelestis formam...
Contrary to popular belief, Calvin was not against trained singers leading worship song. While excluding organs and performing choirs, Calvin did allow a designated leader to teach children to sing the unaccompanied, unison, vernacular psalms in metrical paraphrase. The children, who were probably placed at the ends of the benches, supported congregational song. Loys Bourgeois* was Calvin's director of congregational singing, and director ('maître des enfants') of the Geneva community...
Christ lag in Todesbanden. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
First published in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), and probably written in that year. It was entitled 'Der Lobesang Christ ist erstanden, Gebessert', and had seven 7-line stanzas. All seven are found in EG (EG 101), with the addition of 'Alleluja', as in some of the early texts (see Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, III. 12; Jenny, Luthers geistliche Lieder, no 12, pp. 195-6).
The reference to 'Christ ist erstanden'*...
Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This is one of the later hymns of Luther, dating probably from 1541. It is printed in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 25, from Geistliche Lieder (1544), although a Low German version had appeared in a Magdeburg Gesang Buch in 1542. It was entitled 'Ein Geistlich Lied, Von unser heiligen Tauffe, Darin sein kurtz gefasset, Was sie sey? Wer sie gestifftet habe? Was sie nütze? etc.' ('A hymn on our Holy Baptism, in which it is...
Christe, du bist der helle Tag. Erasmus Alber* (ca. 1500-1553).
This is a companion-piece to Alber's morning hymn for children, 'Steht auf, ihr lieben Kinderlein'*. It is a German version of the Latin hymn, 'Christe qui lux es et dies'*. It was first printed with the morning hymn, in Die Morgen geseng für die Kinder newlich zusamen gebracht. Auch dabey die abent unnd Vesper geseng (Nürnberg, ca. 1556) ('A morning hymn for children newly assembled together; and also a hymn for evening...
FISCHER (Vischer), Christoph. b. Joachimsthal (now Czech Jáchimov), ca. 1518; d. Celle, 1597 (buried 16 Oct). He was probably taught at school by Nikolaus Herman*. He studied at Wittenberg, where he was one of Luther's lodgers, together with Johannes Mathesius*, who lived there at the same time, and who also came from Joachimsthal. Mathesius left in 1542 but Fischer stayed until 1544, when he graduated MA and was ordained. He was pastor at Jüterbog (1544-52), near Wittenberg, where he was known...
TYE, Christopher. b. ca.1505; d. before 15 March 1573. Tye took the BMus degree at Cambridge in 1536 and became a lay clerk at King's College, Cambridge in 1537. Later he was Magister choristarum of Ely Cathedral and was awarded a DMus degree at Cambridge in 1545. Although evidence is scant, we know that Tye was introduced to the court of Henry VIII, most likely through his friendship with Dr Richard Cox, Archdeacon of Ely, and tutor to the young Prince Edward. Tye dedicated his metrical...
Christum wir sollen loben schon. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This hymn was first published in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524) with the title 'Der Hymnus. A solis ortu'. It had eight 4-line stanzas. It is Luther's version of 'A solis ortus cardine'* by Sedulius* (cf. 'Was fürchtst du, Feind Herodes, sehr'*). It is found in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, III. 13, and in Jenny, Luthers geistliche Lieder, no. 16, pp. 210-12; it is not in EG.
JRW
Christus ist erstanden. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480-1534).
First published in Ein new Geseng buchlen (Jungbunzlau, Bohemia, 1531). It had seven 4-line stanzas. It is based on an earlier German hymn for Easter, 'Christ ist erstanden,/ Von der Marter alle'*, which dates from the 12th century and existed in various forms (see Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied II. 43-4). That hymn was much loved by Luther*, who imitated it in 'Christ lag in Todesbanden'*. Weisse's version had seven 4-line stanzas...
Christus, der uns selig macht. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480-1534).
Printed in Ein new Geseng buchlen (Jungbunzlau, Bohemia, 1531). It is Weisse's version of a Latin prayer, 'Patris sapientia,/veritas divina', ascribed to Aegidius of Colonna (1247-1316) (see Liederkunde zum EG, 8, p. 49). Weisse produced his translation in eight 8-line verses (see Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 259), all of which are retained, with slight alterations, in EG (EG 77). It is a hymn on the Passion, with a...
GOUDIMEL, Claude. b. Besançon, ca. 1520 ; d. Lyon, 28-31 August 1572. Goudimel played a leading part in the creation of the French Psalter (1539; see French Protestant psalms*) with his harmonizations of melodies created by Loys Bourgeois*, Pierre Davantès*, Guillaume Franc* and other musicians from Strasbourg such as Matthäus Greiter*. The exact year of Goudimel's birth is not known (the Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary proposes 1505, certain American, English and German musicologists...
LE JEUNE, Claude (Claudin). b. Valenciennes, ca. 1530; d. Paris, 1600 (buried 26 September). Le Jeune was an outstanding protestant French composer of psalms, and the best theorician and composer of the so called 'musique mesurée à l'antique' in France. He was educated in or near his native town, belonging at that time to the Low Countries. In 1552, he first composed four chansons published in Louvain (with works by Thomas Crecquillon, Clemens non Papa and Hubert Waelrant). As a Protestant, he...
SERMISY, Claudin de. b. ca. 1490; d. Paris, 13 October 1562. Very little is known about Sermisy's youth. In 1508, as one of the lower clergy in the Sainte Chapelle du Palais (Royal Chapel, Paris), he was called 'Claudin'. By 1510, he was a singer in the Queen's private chapel, and a cleric in the Noyon diocese. Before 1515, he is mentioned as a member of the Chapelle du Roy (the King's household chapel). From 1532 to at least 1555 he was the successor of Antoine de Longueval (or Longaval) as...
MAROT, Clément. b. Cahors, 1496; d. Turin/Torino, Italy, 1544. He was the son of the poet and rhetorician Jean Marot. He played a leading role in the development of French poetry and hymnology. He had possibly received a musical education, allowing him to sing and play an instrument. He was first at the service of Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, and secondly, around 1519, of Marguerite d'Alençon (1492-1549), sister of Francis I. In 1527, he was appointed as a 'valet de chambre'. In...
Clichtoveus. b. Nieuwport, Flanders, 1572; d. Chartres, France, 22 September 1543.
During the Renaissance it was common for learned authors to Latinize their names (cf. Andreas Gryphius*, Paul Speratus*). Judocus Clichtoveus Neoportuensis, usually referred to as 'Clichtoveus' was the name for Josse van Clichtove, educated at Leuven (Louvain) and Paris. He became Librarian of the Sorbonne before moving back to Flanders in 1519 with Louis Guillard, Bishop of Tournai. He later moved with Guillard...
BECKER, Cornelius. b. Leipzig, 24 October 1561; d. Leipzig, 25 May 1604. He spent almost his whole life in the city of his birth, studying at the University of Leipzig, becoming a teacher at St Thomas' School (1588), diaconus of St Nicholas' Church (1592), and pastor there (1594); he was also Professor of Theology in the University of Leipzig. A convinced Lutheran, he was disturbed by the influence of the Calvinism of the Reformed church, and especially by the popularity of the metrical psalms...
CRUCIGER (CREUTZIGER), Elisabeth (née von Meseritz). b. Meseritz, Pomerania (now Międzyrzecze, Poland), ca. 1500; d. Wittenberg, 2 May 1535. From a noble Catholic family, she was sent to be educated at a Premonstratensian convent, where she studied Latin and Biblical Studies. She became a nun, but under the influence of Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558, Luther's 'Doktor Pomeranus', the Lutheran apostle to Pomerania), she left the convent in 1521. She married Caspar Cruciger/Creutziger, a pupil...
Der du bist drei in Einigkeit. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This hymn to the Holy Trinity is Luther's version of 'O lux beata Trinitas'*. It is appropriately in three stanzas, although they are not divided into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but rather praise the unity throughout. The hymn was probably written ca. 1543, and published in the 1544 'Klug' edition of the Wittenberg hymnal, Geistliche Lieder, where it was entitled 'Hymnus, O lux beata, verdeutscht'. It is thought to be Luther's last...
Der Tag bricht an und zeiget sich. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480- 1534).
This morning hymn was printed in Ein new Geseng buchlen (Jungbunzlau, Bohemia, 1531) in seven 4-line stanzas. It was one of the 'Geseng auf die tagezeiten' ('Hymns of the times of day'; Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 318). This was the second of three hymns: 'Es geht daher des Tages Schein'* was the first.
It is found in the 'Morgen' section of EG, in six stanzas (EG 438), omitting stanza 5:
GermanEditor's...
Die beste Zeit im Jahr ist mein. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This four-stanza hymn is praise of music (EG 319) is found in the 'Loben und Danken' ('Praise and Thanks') section of EG. It is taken from Luther's poem, 'Frau Musica', printed in the foreword to Johann Walter*'s Lob und preis der löblichen Kunst Musica (Wittenberg, 1538), and later in the edition of Geistliche Lieder (Wittenberg, 1544). In some printings it is given the title 'Vorrede auf alle gute Gesangbücher. D.M.L. Frau [or Fraw]...
Die Nacht ist kommen/ drin wir ruhen sollen. Petrus Herbert* (ca. 1530-1571).
From the Bohemian Brethren book in German, Kirchengeseng darinnen die Heubtartickel des Christlichen glaubens Kurtz gefasset und ausgelegt sind (Eibenschütz, 1566), in the section, 'Abendgesenge' ('evening songs'). It had five stanzas (Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied IV. 442-3); all are found in EG in the 'Abend' section. It is a very moving evening hymn, praying for safety and peace, and then for the sick,...
Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III.15, prints this in twelve stanzas, with the title 'Die zehen gebot Gottes, auff den thon, in gottes namen faren wir'. It was published in Eyn Enchiridion (Erfurt, 1524) and in Wittenberg in 1524 by Johann Walter* in Geystliche gesangk Buchlein, where it was the first hymn (Jenny, pp. 149-53). In 1533 it was number 11 in the Wittenberger Gemeindegesangbuch as 'Die Zehen gepot Gottes lange'...
Discendi, amor santo. Bianco da Siena* (d. 1434). For details of the English translation and its use, see 'Come down, O Love divine'*. The Italian text was published by Telesforo Bini in Laudi Spirituali del Bianco da Siena, Povero Gesuato del Secolo XIV (Lucca, 1851). It contained a first verse of four lines:
Discendi, amor santo,
Visita la mie mente
Del tuo amore ardente,
Si che di te m'infiammi tutto quanto.
Followed by seven verses of eight lines. The final lines of the verses rhyme...
SPENSER, Edmund. b. London, ca. 1552; d. Westminster, London, 13 January 1599. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge (BA 1573, MA 1576). He was briefly secretary to John Young, bishop of Rochester, before entering the service of the Earl of Leicester (1579). In the same year he published The Shepheardes Calender. In 1580 he moved to Ireland as secretary to Lord Grey of Wilton, acquiring land there and restoring the ruined Kilcolman Castle, County Cork, ca....
Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott. Martin Luther* (1483-1546). The date of this metrical psalm is uncertain. The text is a commentary on Psalm 46 in Christological terms. The first printing given in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 20, is from Form und ordnung Gaystlicher Gesang und Psalmen (Augsburg, 1529), so it may date from that year, the year of the Diet of Speyer, in which the German princes made their formal 'protest', thus becoming 'Protestants'. Jenny, no 28, states that it is...
Ein Kindlein in der Wiegen. German traditional carol, 16th century or earlier. This carol is found in Geistliche Nachtigall der Catholischen Teutschen, the 1649 edition of the major Catholic collection, Groß Catolisch Gesangbuch, by David Gregor Corner*. From this text is taken the translation in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928) by Robert Graves (1895-1985) beginning 'He smiles within his cradle'. In OBC the provenance is given as 'Austrian, 1649'. But as The New Oxford Book of Carols points...
Ein neues Lied wir haben an. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This was Luther's first hymn, written in 1523. It was entitled 'Eyn new lied von den sween Merterern Christi, zu Brussel von den Sophisten zu Louen verbrant'. It had twelve stanzas (Wackernagel III. 3-4). It was first published in ten stanzas in Eyn Enchiridion (Erfurt, 1524); stanzas 9 and 10 were added in Geystliche gesangk Buchlein (Wittenberg, 1524). In stanza 2 the 'Merterern Christi' were named as Johannes [Esch] and Heinrich...
ALBER (or ALBERUS), Erasmus. b. Wetterau (?), ca. 1500; d. Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg, 5 May 1553. Little is known for certain about Alber's early years, although he is thought to have been born in the Wetterau (the area of the river Wetter, north of Frankfurt-am-Main). He matriculated as a student at Wittenberg in 1520, which places his birth date as ca. 1500. After a period as a schoolmaster, he became pastor at Sprendlingen and Götzingen, south of Frankfurt (1528-39), superintendent at...
Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
Probably written in 1541, and printed on a broadsheet at Wittenberg in 1542. A Low German version appeared in a Magdeburg Gesang Buch (1542), and it was printed in Geistliche Lieder (Wittenberg, 1544). Originally it had three 4-line stanzas, but in 1543 the title added 'Mit zweien Gesetzen Vorbessert' ('with two laws improved'). Wackernagel prints this five-stanza text (Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. p. 27) with the note that 'the...
Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag. Nikolaus Herman* (ca. 1500-1561). This Easter hymn was first published in Herman's Die Sontags Evangelia uber des gantze Jar, in Gesenge verfasset, für die Kinder und christlichen Haussvetter (Wittenberg, 1560). It had fourteen 4-line stanzas, and was entitled 'Ein new Geistlich Lied, von der frölichen osterstehung unsers Heilands Jhesu Christi, für die Jungfrewlein in der Megdlein schul im Joachimsthal' ('A new Spiritual Song of the Joyful Resurrection of our...
Es geht daher des Tages Schein. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480-1534).
This morning hymn was first printed in Ein new Geseng buchlein (Jungbunzlau, 1531). It is the first of three 'Geseng auf die tagezeiten' ('Hymns for times of day'; Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 318). This is the first of three hymns, of which 'Der Tag bricht an und zeiget sich'* was the second.
It had seven 4-line stanzas. It is found in EG in six stanzas (EG 439), with slight alterations, omitting stanza...
Es ist das Heil uns kommen her. Paul Speratus* (1484-1551).
First published in Etlich christlich lider Lobgesang un[d] Psalm (Wittenberg, 1524), the 'Achtliederbuch', with two other hymns by Speratus, who thus became Luther's earliest collaborator in the writing of hymns. This hymn had fourteen 7-line stanzas (Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III, pp. 31-2). It was entitled 'Ein lied vom gesetz und glauben, gewaltigklich mit götlicher schrifft verlegt. Doctoris Pauli Sperati' ('A hymn of...
Es ist ein' Ros entsprungen. German, probably 15th century
The editors of The New Oxford Book of Carols, to whom this entry is much indebted, place this folk carol as originating in the diocese of Trier in the 15th or early 16th century. They note that it appears in many forms: as a folk carol it was a simple text, subject to many accretions. In its extended form it was what they describe as 'a catch-all narrative of the Annunciation, Conception, Visitation, Birth, shepherds, and magi' (p....
Es ist gewißlich an der Zeit. Bartholomäus Ringwaldt* (ca. 1530/32- 1599).
First published in Ringwaldt's Handbüchlin: Geistliche Lieder und Gebetlein (Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, 1586). It is found in EG in the 'Ende des Kirchenjahres' section in all seven stanzas (EG 149). It is based on an anonymous German hymn from Zwey schöne Lieder (ca. 1565), entitled 'Von der zukunfft unsers Herrn Jhesu Christi' ('On the Second Coming…'; Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, IV. pp. 344-5). This hymn was...
Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This version of Psalm 14 probably dates from 1523. It was published in Etlich christliche lider Lobgesang un[d] Psalm (the 'Achtliederbuch', Wittenberg 1524), and in Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), where it was entitled 'Der xiij psalm. Dixit incipiens in corde suo' (Psalm 14: 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God'). It had six 7-line stanzas. The text is printed in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied...
F.B.P. These initials appear over the text of 'Hierusalem my happie home' ('Jerusalem, my happy home'*) in a manuscript book in the British Library (Add. 15,225). The hymn is of 26 4-line stanzas, entitled 'A Song Mad (i.e. 'made') by F:B:P. To the tune of Diana.' The text is based on a passage from St. Augustine's Meditations beginning 'Mater Hierusalem, Civitas sancta Dei'. In the version ascribed to 'F.B.P.' the text suggests a Roman Catholic origin (as opposed to a Protestant text by W....
XAVIER, Francis. b. Xavier, Navarre, Spain, 7 April 1506; d. Shang Chuan, near China, 3 December 1552. He was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in a new castle ('Xavier' in the Basque language) belonging to his aristocratic family in the kingdom of Navarre: the kingdom was invaded and divided during his youth, and the castle was reduced in size by the order of Cardinal Cisneros (see 'Spanish hymnody'*). He was educated at the Collège Sainte Barbe in Paris (1525- ), where he met Ignatius...
GUERRERO, Francisco. b. Seville, 1527 or 1528; d. Seville, 8 November 1599. Guerrero was engaged as a singer in the cathedral of his native Seville in 1542. He was taught music by his brother Pedro, and subsequently by Cristóbal de Morales in Toledo in 1545–1546. In the latter year, and with Morales's support, Guerrero secured the post of maestro de capilla at Jaén Cathedral. He was again in the service of Seville Cathedral from 1549, remaining there until his death. Placed in charge of the...
The Genevan Psalter, 1539-1562
The singing of psalms was regarded by Jean Calvin* as an essential part of congregational worship, and it was a distinctive feature of the reformed church at Geneva in the 16th century. Unlike Luther*, Calvin was cautious about using hymns, because they were of human composition. In the words of Louis F. Benson*, 'He would have nothing in the cultus which could not claim the express authority of Scripture' (1915, p. 23). Psalms, however, were seen as inspired by...
GRÜNWALD, Georg. b. Kitzbühel, Austria, date unknown; d. Kufstein, Austria, 1530. He was a shoemaker, an Anabaptist, who suffered death by burning at the stake. He had lived for a time at Augsburg to escape persecution, but on his return to the Tirol he was imprisoned and burnt. A contemporary hand-written account of the Anabaptists describes his martyrdom 'zu kopffstain', and adds that the hymn 'Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn' was 'Newgesungen und gedichtet' ('newly sung and composed')...
RHAU (RHAW), Georg. b. Franconia, 1488, d. 1548. He was born in Franconia in the town of Eisfeld on the Werra River. He attended the University of Erfurt for a brief time, and the University at Wittenberg (BA, 1514). For four years he was employed in the Wittenberg printing establishment of Rhau-Grunenberg, presumably owned by his uncle. From 1518 to 1520 Rhau was cantor at the Thomasschule and Thomaskirche in Leipzig. He was also associated with the University at Leipzig where he lectured on...
VETTER, Georg. b. Hohenstadt, Moravia, ca. 1536; d. Groß Seelowitz (Židlochovice, south of Brno), 25 Jan 1599. He was educated at the University of Königsberg, and became a priest (1567). He was a schoolmaster and preacher at Jungbunzlau, Moravia, and joined the Bohemian Brethren in 1575, later becoming a member of the Council and a Consenior for Groß Seelowitz, where he lived and worked after leaving Jungbunzlau.
Vetter is the third hymn writer of the early Bohemian Brethren, though less...
BUCHANAN, George. b. Killearn, near Glasgow, February 1506; d. Edinburgh, 28 September 1582. He was educated at the University of Paris (1520-22), the University of St Andrews (BA 1525), and the Scots College in Paris (BA 1527, MA 1528). After a successful early career in Paris, he returned to Scotland in 1537, where he wrote Somnium, a satire on the Franciscans. At this time he was still a Catholic, but a critical one. Imprisoned in 1539 during a persecution of Lutheran sympathisers, he...
PALESTRINA, Giovanni Pierluigi da. b. Palestrina, Italy, between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526; d. Rome, 2 February 1594. In 1544 Palestrina was appointed organist at the cathedral in the town of Palestrina (near Rome) where he served until 1551. His subsequent appointments all were in Rome. In September 1551 he was appointed to the Cappella Giulia (founded in 1513 at San Pietro by Pope Julius II), first as magister cantorum, subsequently as magister cappellae. From January until...
God be in my head. 15th century, author and provenance unknown. The first trace of this very moving verse is in a French text dating from ca. 1490:
Jesus soit en ma teste et mon entendement.
Jesus soit en mes yeulx et mon regardement.
Jesus soit en ma bouche et mon parlement.
Jesus soit en mon cueur et en mon pensement.
Jesus soit en ma vie et mon trespassement. Amen.
The English text is found in a Book of Hours printed by Robert Pynson at London, Hore beate marie/virginis ad vsum in/signis ac...
Gude and Godlie Ballatis (ca. 1540). 'The Gude and Godlie Ballatis' is the title generally given to a collection of ballads and other songs, probably, from internal evidence, originating in Scotland in the 1540s. If this date is correct, it pre-dates the Scottish Psalter of 1564. However, the first extant edition, which lacks its title page, is normally dated 1567. There were further editions in 1578, 1600 and 1621, with a title page describing it as 'Ane Compendius Buik of Godly and Spirituall...
DU FAY, Guillaume. b. ?1397 (perhaps 5 August); d. 24 November 1474. It is not certain where du Fay was born, though he may have come from Bersele near Brussels. By 1409, however, he had become a chorister at Cambrai, the cathedral which formed the focal point for most of his career. In addition, he spent significant periods in Italy, as a member of the Papal Chapel (1428-33 and 1435-37), and at the Savoy court (1433-35, 1437-39 and 1452-58). He also had ties with the Burgundian court,...
FRANC, Guillaume. b. Rouen, ca. 1515 ; d. Lausanne, Switzerland, 1570. He worked in Geneva as singer, professor of music and cantor in the reformed Cathedral Saint-Pierre. In 1541 he became the director of 'une eschole de musique' (music school), where he was appointed professor of music and singing. When Jean Calvin* returned to Geneva, the Council introduced psalm-singing and the training of school children to sing in church. On 2 May 1542, Franc was appointed as 'maystre des escholes'....
SACHS, Hans. b. Nürnberg, 5 November 1494; d. Nürnberg, 19 January 1576. Born the son of a tailor, he attended the Latin school there. He was then apprenticed to a shoemaker, but also became a poet under the instruction of the Meistersinger Leonard Nunnenbeck. He combined his work as a shoemaker with his poetry, travelling in Europe for what were known as his 'Wanderjahre' from 1511 to 1516. He returned to Nürnberg in 1516, where he lived for the remainder of his life, working as a shoemaker...
LAUFENBURG, Heinrich von. b. Laufenburg, Aargau, Switzerland, ca. 1390; d. Strasbourg, ca. 1460. He is named after his birthplace, a town on the Rhine, now on the border with Germany: in JJ he is listed as 'Heinrich of Laufenburg' (p. 507; Catherine Winkworth* uses 'Henry of Loufenburg', and Wackernagel 'Heinrich von Loufenberg'). In JJ James Mearns* noted that he was first heard of as Dean of the Collegiate Church of St Maurice at Zofingen, Aargau. He later became a Dean at Freiburg, Baden,...
ISAAC [Ysaak, Ysac, Yzac], Henricus [Heinrich, Arrigo]. b. Flanders or Brabant, ca. 1450-55; d. Florence, 26 Mar 1517. He was born in Flanders or Brabant, but nothing else is known of his life before 1484, when a payment for his services as a composer appears in the Tyrolean court records, at Innsbruck. From 1485 to 1493 he was a singer at the baptistery of S. Giovanni in Florence. In 1496 he became court composer to Emperor Maximilian I. As one of the first internationally renowned musicians...
Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn. Elisabeth Cruciger (Creutziger)* (ca. 1500-1535).
This hymn is from Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), and Johann Walter*'s Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg, 1524), entitled 'Eyn Lobsangk von Christo'. In some later books it is 'Ein geistlich liedt von Christo, Elisabet Creutzigerin'. Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. pp. 46-7, gives four texts of this hymn. It had five 7-line stanzas, beginning:
Herr Christ, der einig Gotts...
Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn. Kaspar Stolzhagen* (1550-1594).
This joyful Easter hymn, filled with double 'Halleluja's, comes from Stolzhagen's Kinderspiegel, oder Hauszucht und Tischbüchlein. Wie die Eltern mit den Kindern vor und nach Essens Abendes und Morgens singen und beten sollen (Eisleben, 1591), a hymnbook for children and adults to use daily. In JJ, p. 1648, James Mearns* thought the hymn 'may possibly be' by Stolzhagen, but he is given as the author in EG (109).
It was entitled...
How lovely is thy dwelling place. Scottish Psalter*, 1564 onwards.
This metrical psalm was the version of Psalm 84 in the first Scottish psalm book after the Reformation, entitled The forme and ministration of the sacraments &c. used in the English church at Geneva, approved and received by the Church of Scotland. Whereunto besydes that was in the former bokes, are also added sondrie other prayers, with the whole psalms of David in English meter (Edinburgh: Robert Lekprevik, 1564). Psalm...
Texts
From the early times of the reformed movement onwards (les Luthériens), many poets expressed their perception of the new religious feelings through the writing of cantiques, odes, sonnets, hymnes and other poems 'pleins de piété': among them were Antoine de Baïf (1532-1589) who composed a Psautier (1587); Eustorg de Beaulieu (1495-1552), pastor in Thierrens (Swiss Jura) and author of La Chrétienne Réjouissance (1546) as well as many chansons; Pey de Garros (1530-1585) with his...
I would I were at last at home. Heinrich von Laufenburg* (ca. 1390- ca. 1460), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
The German text, beginning 'Ich wollte, dass ich daheime wär', is found in the copy of the Strasbourg manuscript used by Wackernagel, dated 1429 (modern books date it 1430) and printed in Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, II. pp. 540. James Mearns* adds a typically learned reference to manuscript sources and to 19th-century printings of the German text (JJ, p. 507). ...
KERLE, Jacobus de. b. Ypres, the Netherlands, 1531 or 1532; d. Prague, 7 January 1591. Kerle was a singer at Cambrai Cathedral from 1548 to ca.1550. From ca.1550 to 1562 he was in Italy as director of the boys' choir and organist at Orvieto cathedral. In 1562 he went to Rome as director of the private chapel of Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Bishop of Augsburg, whom he served until May 1565 when the Cardinal was forced to disband his chapel. By the end of that year Kerle was back in...
WEDDERBURN, James. b. Dundee, Scotland, ca. 1495; d. Dieppe or Rouen, France, 1553. James was the eldest of (probably) four brothers, the son of a merchant of Dundee. The others were John*, Robert and Henry (there may have been others). James was a student at St Andrews University (matriculated 1514), but left without taking a degree. He became a merchant in northern France, but returned at some point before 1539 to Dundee. He wrote two plays, The Beheading of Johne the Baptist and The Historie...
UTENHOVE, Jan. b. the Netherlands, ca. 1520; d. London, 6 January 1566. Utenhove was a leading lay Reformer in the Calvinist tradition, born into a Flemish aristocratic family with strong connections with Erasmus. He was obliged to leave Ghent in 1544, almost certainly because of adverse reaction to a play he had written and performed. Thereafter he travelled widely in Europe, staying in Heinrich Bullinger's Zürich, Martin Bucer*'s and Peter Martyr's Strassburg, Thomas Cranmer's London, and...
Je Te salue, mon certain Rédempteur. French Psalter, Strasbourg, 1545, possibly by Jean Calvin*.
Found in an edition of the French Psalter published in Strasbourg in 1545, this was printed in Corpus Reformatorum volume 34, Calvini opera vol. 6 (Braunschweig, 1867). It was placed at the end of a set of nine French metrical psalms by Calvin, but regarded by the editors as of doubtful authorship.
In the year following the publication of Corpus Reformatorum the text was translated by Elizabeth Lee...
CALVIN, Jean (John). b. Noyon en Picardie, France, 10 July 1509; d. Geneva, 27 May 1564. He attended the 'Collège des Capettes' in his native town. In May 1521, an ecclesiastic benefice was granted to him in the Cathedral of Noyon. Two years later, he studied at the 'Collège de la Marche' at Paris with the humanist Mathurin Cordier. Between 1524 and 1528, he received a scholastic training at the 'Collège Montaigu'. After having obtained the degree of 'Maître ès Arts', according to his father's...
MAUBURN, Jean. b. Brussels, ca. 1460; d. Paris, 1503. According to Frost (1962, p. 561), he studied music at Utrecht, and was an Augustinian canon of various French abbeys (in The Voice of Christian Life in Song, 1858, Elizabeth Rundle Charles* described him as Abbot of Livry).
In 1491 Mauburn published Rosetum exercitiorum spiritualium ('Spiritual Exercises for the Confraternity of the Rosary'). According to The Hymnal 1982 Companion, these were spiritual exercises for the laity. From this...
Jerusalem luminosa. Latin, before 15th century. This hymn is from a 15th-century manuscript at Karlsruhe, printed by Franz Joseph Mone (the archivist at Karlsruhe) in his Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters (Freiburg, 1853). There has been speculation that the author was Thomas à Kempis* (it is 'ascribed' to him in A&MCP) but there is no firm evidence for this. It had 17 stanzas. Seven of them were translated by John Mason Neale* in the Hymnal Noted Part II (1854), beginning 'Light's abode,...
Jerusalem, my happy home. Author unknown, ca. 1580. This hymn exists in many versions, most of which come from two sources:
British Library Add. MS 15, 225. This is a text of 26 4-line verses, described as 'A Song Mad (i.e. 'made') by F:B:P.'. The initials may have referred to a Roman Catholic priest (the 'P' standing for 'Pater') persecuted and perhaps imprisoned during the reign of Elizabeth I. For various theories, see 'F.B.P.'*.
A poem entitled 'Hymn on the New Jerusalem', by 'W. P.',...
HORN, Johann. b. Domaschitz, Bohemia ca. 1490; d. 11 February 1547. His original name was Johann Roh, but he styled himself Cornu in Latin and Horn in German. He was ordained priest in 1518 and became a senior cleric in the Moravian church. He is known for two books: his Písnĕ chval božských (Prague, 1541), and his edition of the Bohemian hymnbook Ein Gesangbuch der Brüder in Behemen und Merherrn published in Nuremberg in 1544; he may have been the author or at least the translator of many of...
WALTER, Johann. b. Kahla ( ?), 1496 ; d. Torgau, 25 March 1570. He was possibly born in Kahla (Thüringen). After studying at the Latin schools in Kahla and Rochlitz (Saxony), Walter matriculated at the University of Leipzig in 1517, where he may have had personal contact with Georg Rhau*, cantor at the Thomaskirche at the time. By 1521 he was a bass in the court chapel of Friedrich the Wise, Elector of Saxony, although this was disbanded in 1525 following the Elector's death. In 1525, Walter...
BRUGMAN, Johannes (Jan). b. Kempen, the Netherlands, ca. 1400; d. Nijmegen, June 1473. Brugman joined the Order of Friars Minor-Conventual in 's-Hertogenbosch some time between 1420 and 1425, and shortly afterwards entered the studium generale in Paris. He became swept up in the controversy over the interpretation of the rule of St Francis between the Conventual and Observant branches of the Franciscan Order (see Franciscan hymns and hymnals*) in the 1440s. Following the reformation of the...
DAY, John. b. Dunwich, Suffolk, 1522; d. 23 July 1584. Day became an important London printer, and one of very few who printed music. In 1559 he was fined for printing an unauthorized edition of the psalms, but produced a further edition of 83 psalms in 1561 (JJ, pp. 858-9). He produced a collection of liturgical music, Certaine Notes (publication begun in 1560, completed in 1565). But his career was built on a monopoly, granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1559, in the common psalm book, Sternhold*...
DOWLAND, John. b. 1563; d. London, between 20 January and 20 February 1626. Nothing is known about the first 17 years of Dowland's life, but it is thought that he underwent his musical apprenticeship in the service of courtiers such as Sir Henry Cobham (with whom he spent some four years in Paris), George Carey, and Henry Noel. In 1588 he was admitted to the degree of B.Mus at Oxford. In the same year John Case, in his Apologia musices, listed him among the most celebrated musicians of the day....
HOPKINS, John. b. Wednesbury, Staffordshire, 1520/1521; d. Great Waldingfield, Suffolk, October 1570 (buried 23 October). Nothing is known of his early life. He was probably the John Hopkins who was admitted to a BA degree at Oxford in 1544, and who was ordained a few years later (deacon 1551, priest 1552). In 1551 his age was given as 30, which is the only evidence of his birth date. He worked in London for a time, and there is a reference to him in Edward Hake's A Compendious Fourme of...
MARCKANT, John. d. Clacton, Essex, ca. 1586. Little is known of Marckant's life. He was made vicar of Great Clacton in 1559, which suggests that he may have been one of the newly-returned Protestant exiles. He remained at Clacton until his death, also holding the living of Shopland, Essex, between 1563 and 1568. He is believed to be the author of four psalm versions in the Old Version*, The Whole Booke of Psalmes of 1562. These have the initial 'M' attached, and in an edition of 1565 the full...
PULLAIN (or PULLEYNE), John. b. Yorkshire (?), ca 1517; d. Colchester (?), before 16 July 1565. Thought to have been born in Yorkshire, he was educated at Oxford, College unknown (BA 1540, MA 1544). He was ordained (deacon 1550, priest 1551) and appointed rector of the important London church, St Peter, Cornhill (1553). He was expelled from the living in 1554, following the accession of Mary Tudor, but continued to minister to Protestants in London and Colchester before being forced into exile...
WEDDERBURN, John. b. Dundee, Scotland, ca. 1505; d. England, place unknown, 1556. John Wedderburn was the second of four sons of a Dundee merchant, younger brother of James* and older brother of Robert, later vicar of Dundee from 1546 to ca 1555-60, and Henry. John was educated at St Andrews University (BA 1526, MA 1528), becoming a priest of St Matthew's Chapel, Dundee. His reforming views caused him to be indicted for heresy, and he fled to Germany, probably in 1539. He took refuge in...
See 'To my humble supplication'*
NAVARRO, Juan. b. 1525–1530; d. 25 September 1580. Born in the region of Marchena, in 1549 Navarro was a tenor singer in the service of the Duke of Arcos in that town, and subsequently sang at Jaén Cathedral and then Málaga Cathedral (1553-1555). He went on to hold the post of maestro de capilla successively at the collegiate church in Valladolid (from 1562) and the cathedrals of Ávila (from 1564), Salamanca (from 1566), Ciudad Rodrigo (from 1574), and Palencia (from 1578), where he died.
In...
BOURGEOIS, Loys. b. Paris, ca. 1510–15; d. ca. 1559. Bourgeois was a composer of chansons who adhered to the Reformed religion. Born in Paris, he emigrated from Lyons to Geneva in 1545 and was granted citizenship in 1547. From 1539 to 1557 he worked as musical editor for successive editions of the Calvinist psalter of Clément Marot* and Théodore de Bèze* (see French Protestant psalms*), adapting old Latin hymn melodies (see Medieval hymns and hymnals*) and sequence* melodies, and composing some...
Senfl, Ludwig. b. ca. 1489/91; d. 1542/3. Of Swiss origin, Senfl became a choirboy in the Imperial court chapel of Maximilian I in 1496. He was a pupil of Henricus Isaac*, and remained attached to the Imperial court choir, both as an alto and as a composer, until its dissolution on Maximilian's death in 1519. By 1523 he was in Munich, serving Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria. Although Senfl was sympathetic to the reformation whilst his employer remained a committed Catholic, he kept this post until...
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child ('Coventry Carol'). The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, 1534, 1591.
This carol is from the mystery play entitled The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors [Taylors], is known as the 'Coventry Carol' because it was first performed in Coventry, England. It was the property of the two guilds, the Shearmen and the Tailors, and is known as a 'mystery play' because each craft jealously preserved the secrets, or mysteries, of its trade. The original incipit is...
CHRYSAPHES, Manuel. fl. 1440–1463. He was the most impressive, prolific and distinguished Byzantine composer, singer, scribe and theoretician at the time of Constantinople's political decline. His output was exceptionally prolific and his chants were known and sung for centuries, not only in the Greek- but also in the Slavonic- and Romanian-speaking east. His contributions to the repertory of Byzantine liturgical music reveal him as an important figure in the development of the Eastern chant...
BUCER, Martin (BUTZER). b. Sélestat (Schlettstadt), Alsace, 11 November 1491; d. Cambridge, England, 28 February 1551. He was first educated in the Dominican Convent of his native town (1506 onwards); then he enrolled in the University of Heidelberg (31 January 1517) where he met Martin Luther*; he became an instant admirer of Luther and embraced his new doctrine and ideas. In 1521 he left the Order of St Dominic with which he had become totally incompatible. With the authorization of Rome, he...
LUTHER, Martin. b. Eisleben, Thuringia, probably 10 November 1483; d. Eisleben, 18 February 1546. Born the son of a miner who later became a mine-owner, he was educated at schools at Mansfeld, Magdeburg and Eisenach, before entering the University of Erfurt in 1501 (BA 1501, MA 1505). After a very brief period studying law, he decided to become an Augustinian friar, entering the cloister at Erfurt in July 1505. He entered the Order formally in 1506, becoming a priest in 1507 and saying his...
Mensch, wiltu leben seliglich. Martin Luther* (1483-1546).
This hymn is a short hymn on the Ten Commandments ('Die zehen gebot auffs kürßte', Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, III. 17). It was first printed in Johann Walter*'s Geystliche gesangk Buchlein (Wittenberg, 1524). Jenny (p. 329) notes it as 'Die Zehen gepot kurtz' at number 12 in Das Wittenberger Gemeindegesangbuch (1533). It had five stanzas, with 'Kyrioleis' after each stanza. In the title 'kürßte' was used to distinguish it...
WEISSE, Michael. b. Neisse, Silesia (now Nysa, Poland), ca. 1480; d. Landskron (now Landškroun, Czech Republic), March 1534. He is recorded as having been a monk at Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland), where he took priest's orders. In 1518 he and some other brothers left the monastery and joined the Bohemian Brethren. By 1522 he was the leader of the German-speaking community in Landskron, Bohemia, and then at Fulneck, Moravia. Together with Jan Roh (Johann Horn), he was in contact with Martin Luther*,...
COVERDALE, Miles. b. York, 1488; d. London, 20 January 1569. Although it is known that he was born at York, the rest of Coverdale's early years are unrecorded. He was ordained in 1514, becoming an Augustinian friar at Cambridge, where he was a leading member of a group of theologians meeting to discuss the works of Martin Luther* (Leaver, 1991, p. 62). By 1528 he had left the Augustinians, and become an itinerant preacher. He lived in various parts of the continent for some years, working on...
Most glorious Lord of life, that on this day. Edmund Spenser* (ca. 1552-1599).
Spenser's Amoretti, published in the same volume as Epithalamion in 1595, are love sonnets, probably written to Elizabeth Boyle, whom he married in 1594. The sonnet sequence was a common literary form of the period. Sonnet 68 is unusual in the sequence in using the Easter story as a reason for loving one another; but its rare beauty makes it a valuable addition to devotional poetry, and it has been included in a...
Nada te turbe. St Teresa of Avila* (1515-1582).
According to P. Silverio, the editor of the works of Saint Teresa, these lines were found in the Breviary that she used in prayer during the Divine Office when she was dying at Alba de Tormes ('Guardaba Santa Teresa estas sentencias en el breviario que usaba para el rezo del oficio divino, cuando murió en Alba de Tormes'). They were:
Nada te turbe,
nada te espante,
todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia
todo lo alcanza
quien a Dios...
DECIUS, Nikolaus. b. Upper Franconia, Bavaria, ca. 1490?; d. Stettin, 21 March 1541. He was also known as Nikolaus a Curia, Nikolaus von Hofe, and Nikolaus Hovesch. He became 'Probst' ('Provost') of a monastery at Steterburg, near Wolfenbüttel in 1519. Convinced by the Reformers, he left the monastery in 1522, and became a schoolmaster at Braunschweig. He matriculated at the University of Wittenberg in 1523, and became a Lutheran preacher at Stettin in 1526, before being appointed preacher at...
SELNECKER, Nikolaus. b. probably at Hersbruck, near Nürnberg, 1530/1532; d. Leipzig, 24 May 1592. The date and place of his birth are uncertain (JJ and Stulken, 5 Dec 1532; KLEG, Hersbruck, 6 Dec 1530). He was at school at Nürnberg, and was organist of the Nürnberger Burgkapelle at the age of twelve. In 1549 he went to Wittenberg to study law, changing to theology under the influence of Philipp Melanchthon* (in whose house he lived) and graduating MA in 1554. After teaching at Wittenberg for...
Now Israel. William Whittingham* (ca. 1525/1530- 1579).
This is one of the two metrical versions of Psalm 124 of 1551: the other begins 'Had not the Lord been on our side'. According to Millar Patrick*, the metrical version of 'Now Israel' in French and the tune are by Théodore de Bèze*, in Pseaumes octante trois de David, mise en rime francoise. A savoir quarante neuf par Clement Marot. et trente quatre par Theodore de Besze (Geneva, 1551). The first stanza of this, the better known version...
O Filii et Filiae. Jean Tisserand* (d. 1494).
This hymn on the events of Easter, with an emphasis on the episode of St Thomas, is found in an untitled booklet printed between 1518 and 1536, probably at Paris. It was a 'Salut', a greeting to the Blessed Sacrament on Easter Day. It was entitled 'L'aleluya du jour de Pasques', and in translation it is prefaced by the three-fold 'Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!' There is some suggestion that the triple 'Alleluia' may have been sung between each...
O God my strength and fortitude. Thomas Sternhold* (d. 1549).
According to JJ, p. 863, this metrical version of Psalm 18 was added to the collection of Psalms published by John Daye in 1561 entitled Psalmes of David in Englishe Metre. It then passed into The whole Book of Psalmes, collected into English metre by T. Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others (1562) (the 'Old Version'*). Originally it was in five parts. The first, from which most modern printings derive, had ten stanzas, preceded by the...
O Lord, turn not thy face away. John Marckant (d. 1586).
This was one of the additional hymns added to the psalms in The Whole Booke of Psalmes (1562) (see 'Old Version'*). There it was entitled 'The Lamentation of a Sinner'. It was signed 'M', indicating Marckant as the author; his name is given in full in the edition of 1565.
It had 11 verses, beginning
O Lord, turn not thy face away
from him that lies prostrate,
Lamenting sore his sinful life,
Before thy mercy gate.
According to...
OLD HUNDREDTH.
This is the most durable of all hymn tunes in the English-language repertory. Associated with William Kethe*'s version of Psalm 100 ('All people that on earth do dwell'*) from its first printing in the Anglo-Genevan psalter of 1560, it was taken from the French Genevan Psalter* of 1551 (see 'French Protestant psalms'*). Indeed, like all Kethe's psalm versions, this one was written to fit the French tune.
Loys Bourgeois* had originally provided the tune for Théodore de Bèze*'s...
'Old Version' (1562). This is an informal name often used, from the mid-17th century onwards, for The Whole Booke of Psalmes, by Thomas Sternhold*, John Hopkins* and others, which was first published under that title by John Day* (London, 1562). It is sometimes termed simply 'Sternhold & Hopkins'. In popularity and durability it far exceeds any other psalm or hymnbook in English history. For nearly three centuries it was the standard English version of the metrical psalms. One psalm, one...
LASSUS, Orlando de. b. Mons, the Netherlands, 1530 or 1532; d. Munich, 14 June 1594. Born at Mons (in present-day Belgium), Lassus was one of the most prolific and cosmopolitan of 16th-century composers, writing sacred and secular works in the predominant Latin, Italian, French, and German genres of his day. The earliest biographical details come from the Munich humanist Samuel Quickelberg's (1529–1567) entry on Lassus in a 1566 biographical directory. Quickelberg noted that aged about 12...
Our king went forth to Normandy. English, 15th-century, author unknown.
This is known as the 'Agincourt hymn'. It was written to celebrate the campaign of Henry V in France, culminating in the victory at Agincourt on St Crispin's Day (25 October) 1415. It had stanzas in English, beginning as above, and 'Burdens' or refrains in Latin, beginning 'Deo gracias, Anglia, redde pro victoria'. Burden I begins, and Burden II ends each stanza, as follows:
Deo gracias, Anglia, redde pro Victoria
Our king...
L'ESTOCART, Paschal de. b. 1539 or 1540 ; d. after 1584. His birth year is approximately identified through the mention of his age on a portrait accompanying the edition of the Octonaires de la Vanité du Monde: 'PASCHAL DE L'ESTOCART . AAGE . DE . XLII.ANS' (at the age of 42 in 1581, according to the dedication, or 1582, according to the edition). He probably died after 1584 in which year he took part in a musical competition (a 'puy') at Évreux. Little is known about his youth, but he...
Personent hodie. Latin, from Piae Cantiones. This is No 5 in the first section of Piae Cantiones (Greifswald, 1582), 'Cantiones de Nativitate Domini & Saluatoris nostri Iesu Christi'. It had four verses:
Personent hodie voces puerulaelaudantes iucundè qui nobis est natus,summo Deo datus,& de virgineo ventre procreatus.
In mundo nascitur, pannis involvitur,Praesepi ponitur stabulo brutorum,Rector supernorum, perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.
Magi tres venerunt, parvulum...
DATHEEN, Peter (Petrus). b. Cassell, Nord, Belgium, c. 1531; d. Elbing, Germany, 17 March 1588. Datheen's parentage is unknown. At an early age he was placed in a Carmelite monastery at Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium, where he was schooled in medicine and theology by monks who were sympathetic to Reformation ideals. At about 18, when the monastery at Ypres was, along with many in the region, threatened with dissolution by agents of the Inquisition, Datheen fled to London, where he was part of...
NICOLAI, Philipp. b. Mengeringhausen, near Kassel, 10 August 1556, d. Hamburg, 26 October 1608. He was privately educated at Dortmund, Mühlhausen, and Korbach. From 1574 to 1579 he studied theology at Wittenberg and Erfurt. He completed his degree at Wittenberg in 1594 after studying with Aegidius Hunnius. He became pastor at Herdecke (Westphalia) in 1583, and later at Cologne (1586–7), Altwildungen (1588–96), Unna (1596–1601), and finally St. Katherinen, Hamburg.
Nicolai wrote numerous...
Piae Cantiones. This collection of carols and songs was published in Greifswald, then part of Swedish territory, in 1582. It consisted of 74 items, arranged in 11 sections:
24 Cantiones for Christmas;
9 for Passion-tide and Easter;
1 for Pentecost;
3 for Trinity Sunday;
2 for Holy Communion;
4 'Songs of Prayer';
14 on 'the Frailty and Miseries of Human Life' ('De Fragilitate et Miseriis Humanae Conditionis');
10 on School Life;
2 on Peace;
3 'Songs of History'; and
2 Carols for Spring.
The...
DAVANTÈS, Pierre (Latin pseudonym: 'Antesignanus'). b. Rabastens (southern France, near Tarbes), ca. 1525; d. Geneva, 31 August 1561. Very little is known about his life, although he possibly worked in Lyon. Early in 1559 he moved to Geneva and was accepted as a citizen (bourgeois). Expert in philology, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he was not only an outstanding humanist but also a theorist and melody writer. Contributing to the Renaissance practice of ad fontes (the return to original sources), he...
The hymn was one of the most frequently set liturgical genres of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. It fits well into the style preferences of the period in its use of a version of the chant melody ordinarily associated with the text as the basis for the composition of one of the voices. Its brevity, four to six phrases corresponding to the lines of one stanza, allowed for ready production of a number of settings needed to provide for a polyphonic setting for Vespers* of every important...
Quem pastores laudavere. Latin, 15th century. This carol is found in a German MS from Hohenfurth Abbey dated 1410. The tune has become better known than the words, although the Latin text was in the Oxford Book of Carols (1928) and is retained in NOBC. According to NOBC it was originally in three verses, beginning 'Quem pastores laudavere', 'Ad quem magi ambulabant' and 'Christo Regi, Deo nato': this refers to the shepherds ('pastores') in verse 1 and the Wise Men ('magi ambulabant', verse 2),...
A distinctive feature of the Reformation of the 16th century, as it developed in different ways across Europe, was the introduction of congregational hymnody into the newly-devised Protestant forms of worship. While this psalmody and hymnody in these new contexts was 'new' in the experience of the worshippers, the Reformers who introduced congregational singing knew that they were not creating something that had never been done before, but rather re-introducing an established practice of the...
Remember, O thou man. English traditional carol, 16th or 17th century.
This carol or hymn was set to music in Thomas Ravenscroft*'s Melismata (1611), where it was entitled 'A Christmas Carroll':
Remember, O thou man, O thou man, O thou man, Remember, O thou man, Thy time is spent: Remember, O thou man, How thou cam'st to me then, And I did what I can, Therefore repent.
Six stanzas were printed in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), from which the above text is taken. Stanzas 2-6 began:
2....
ALLISON, Richard. b. ?1560–70, d. ?before 1610. He was a servant of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick (d. 1589/90); little is known about his musical activities other than his publications.
He provided ten harmonizations of tunes in The Whole Book of Psalms: with their wonted tunes by Thomas East*, but his most significant contribution was his own collection, published in 1599 as The Psalmes of David in Meter . . . to be Sung and Plaide upon the Lute, Orpharyon, Cittern or Base Violl....
[This entry is in two parts. The first, by Joseph Dyer, discusses Roman hymnody from its beginnings to the 15th century. The second, by Daniel Zager, details 16th-century developments.]
Early and Medieval hymnody
Rome proved very reluctant to introduce the singing of hymns in the Divine Office. They were accepted by the papal court and the major basilicas only towards the end of the 12th century. In this they probably differed from the urban monasteries that followed the Rule of Benedict*, but...
Scottish Psalter (1564).
Words
The metrical psalter was of immense importance in furthering and establishing the Reformation in Scotland. Even before the psalter of 1564, the Gude and Godlie Ballatis* of the Wedderburn brothers (see James Wedderburn* and John Wedderburn*) had brought the spirit of the continental reformers to Scotland in the 22 psalms translated into the rough vernacular. The Protestant exiles, who returned from Frankfurt, Geneva and elsewhere in the years immediately...
ANTONIANO, Silvio. b. Rome, 31 December 1540; d. Rome, 16 August 1603. He was educated at the University of Ferrara, before being appointed by Pope Pius IV as Professor of Belles-Lettres at the Sapienza University in Rome. He was ordained as a priest in 1568, and became Secretary of the College of Cardinals; he held various posts in the Curia under successive Popes (Pius V, Sixtus V, Clement VIII). He had a particular interest in education, and published Tre Libri dell' Educazione Christiana...
TERESA of Avila, St. b. Gotarrendura, Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515; d. Alba de Tormes, 4 October 1582. She was born into a prosperous merchant family. Her intense idealism was shown in childhood when, at the age of seven, she went with her brother Rodrigo to look for the Moors with the intention of being martyred (see the Prelude to Middlemarch, by George Eliot: they were brought back by an uncle, who happened to see them). In 1536 she entered the Carmelite* convent of the Incarnation at Avila....
BÈZE, Théodore de (BEZA) (Latin surname: Deodatus). b. Vézelay, France, 24 June 1519; d. 13 October 1605. De Bèze (Beza) was a French theologian, a pastor, a humanist, a poet (the author of 101 Huguenot Psalm paraphrases in French), a jurist and a diplomat. Condemned by the Parliament after having published his collection Poemata juvenilia, he left Paris on 24 October 1548 and took refuge in Switzerland. He was a professor of Greek in Lausanne from 1549 to 1559, then Rector of the Academy of...
KARYKES, Theophanes. ca. second half 16th century. Karykes is said to be one of the most important Byzantine composers of the late 16th century, whose work already shows the stylistic influence of the new florid style. Theophanes Karykes is mentioned in the diary of the German pastor Stephan Gerlach: on a visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in October 1577, he made the acquaintance of a 'protopsaltes […] called Kariteus of Athens'. Karykes was a protopsaltes until 1578 and became ecumenical...
STERNHOLD, Thomas. b. date unknown; d. 23 August 1549. Little is known of Sternhold's early life. He may have originated in Gloucestershire, and been educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the service of Henry VIII and by ca. 1540 he was 'groom of the robes' to the king. In 1543 he was imprisoned for his Protestant beliefs, but he later became Member of Parliament for Plymouth (1545-47) and he flourished at the Reformation, benefiting from the dissolution of the monasteries and the...
VICTORIA, Tomás Luis de. b. Ávila, Spain, ca. 1548; d. Madrid, 27 August 1611. Victoria was a choirboy at Ávila Cathedral. He studied from about 1565 at the Collegio Germanico in Rome, and taught there from 1571. In 1575 he was ordained to the priesthood. His clerical activities in Rome included a chaplain's position at S. Gerolamo della Carità (from probably 1582 until 1585) and charitable work for the Archconfraternity of the Resurrection, for which he also occasionally provided music. As a...
ZWINGLI, Ulrich (Huldrych). b. Born at Wildhaus, Switzerland, 1 January 1484; d. Kappel, 11 October 1531. Born in the Toggenburg valley, Zwingli was educated at the Latin school at Basel (1494-96) and Bern (1497-98) before going to the University of Vienna (1498-1502) with a period in Paris. Returning to Basel, he graduated with a Master's degree in 1506, and was ordained in the same year. After serving as a curate at Constance and a priest at Glarus, he entered the monastery at Einsiedeln in...
Was mein Gott will, gescheh allzeit. Albrecht*, Count (Markgraf) of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke of Prussia (1490-1568). ('Whatever God wills, let that happen always').
It is found in EG in the 'Angst und Vertrauen' section (EG 364). It was written in 1547 after the death of his first wife, Princess Dorothea of Denmark. It is found in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 1070-1, unattributed: Wackernagel prints two texts, one from Fünff Schöne Geistliche Lieder (Dresden, 1556), the other...